Success

History books are great. I do believe it is very true that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

They also bring encouragement to those that bother to read about success's of the past.

What they don't seem to teach enough of are the struggles, perseverance, heartbreak and tears along the way to the great accomplishments.

Nothing great comes easy. Anything worth doing or having is worth whatever it takes to acquire them.

There are risks and tremendous amounts of work involved in finding success. There are also setbacks, heartaches and tears. There are enormous amounts of patience needed.

So when we give all the unneeded things we do to our children, are we really doing them a disservice?

Teach them to work and earn what they want and you may teach them to be successful...

Guide them to think of ways to earn for what they want and you may be guiding them to become leaders...

Allow them to struggle for what they want and you may be allowing them to be innovators and inventors...

So hey, how about clicking on that Join button and showing us your smiling face. We're all family here in this world. We all have similar problems and lives. We all put up with idiotic decisions made by our governments. But we all need each other to make a better world possible...

The Lonely, The Lost

I read something someone wrote this morning and had a brief discussion with them. They fancy theirself a Goth. Maybe I'm a bit silly, but I see little difference between a Goth, Loner, Hippie, or even a biker. They are all people who live their life their own way and with the exception of a few radicals who are only out for their own selfish amusement, are not harming people in any way. One must look beyond the radicals in every walk of life to see the real people that are there. Even the church has had it's radicals and still does...

I've been classed in all these groups at one time or another during my life. Just because I dare to live outside of what society calls normal. But other than Hippie, I've proudly held those titles as badges of honor and even hippie was held close because of why I was called that.

After the conversation I was out and busy with some work. But the conversation was still on my mind. As anyone who reads this blog with any regularity knows, my head may be the “king of scattered thought”...

Well, I had to stop what I was doing and come in and write down what was falling out of those thoughts. So I also decided I'd share it with you here. Hope you enjoy or even just maybe become enlightened.

Being original being me

Quite often leaves me alone in a sea

A sea of people who live with fear

Of offending someone who they think is dear

Yet people who are truly dear

Are people who live not in their fear

But reach out and touch their wildest dreams

Strive to achieve their craziest schemes

Not in a way that would hurt someone else

But in a way that is of them self

Questioning all that society holds dear

And locks their lives in dreaded fear

Jealousy rears it's ugly head

When they won't consider their ideas are dead

Having no feeling they can call their own

Only being what can be called a drone

People of compassion step out of that box

To where inventors invent to where writers do flock

They shut off the sounds of doubters sad words

Words that discourage don't need to be heard

So often looked at as strange and then feared

Scolded by people who know only tears

Told we are wrong for holding so near

The freedom society claims to hold dear

Now I'm getting old my hairs getting gray

So before I come to my final day

I'd like to tell all those of my kind

Learn to laugh as society whines

Shrug off that feeling that you don't belong

And live your life while singing your song

You are the great ones they someone will say

They wish they could have been during their day

Use your compassion as you see fit

Do not be bothered by unthinking twits

For near your end you too will find

We all turn to dust but what we leave behind

Leave behind words that help others see

They too will be lonely but they can be free

They too will find others who believe they are real

And in their end its the smile they will feel

Knowing they lived a life that was real

Not being a tin soldier lost in a field

Knowing the courage to last and endure

In their final days will feel very sure

Leave behind toys for people to play

Inventions to help as they go through their days

Memories in people that that will live long

Even after their body is gone

Words things and knowledge only outsiders can find

By not allowing their mind to be tied up in a bind

Compassion that society someday will find

A remarkable thing that will confuse their mind

They'll only wish they could feel as we do

Or have the courage to feel anything but blue

When we are long past is when they will find

That remarkable things come from unfettered minds

So dare to be different

Dare to be true

To the one that matters

The one that is you

Why not click on that followers button and join here? We are the same no matter where we live in this world. It's only our governments and radicals that mess this world up with their self centered ways. We can all learn to live together and share what we believe to be true. We can all get along and aim this world to a better future by sharing. So join here and show the world you care.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

So what are you doing this weekend?

The wet cold weather we were having here has finally broke and the weatherman is saying it's supposed to be nice for about a week. So I know what I'll be doing. It's time to play catch up with crops and work.

It's also the time of year here in the north to get those gardens cleaned up. Pull those old plants that are finished with their jobs for the year and add them to the compost. Time to get any remaining vegetables picked and canned.

With all the rain we've had here it's also time to get that huge lawn mowed and back in control. Seriously there may be spots where I could bale hay...

No big deal though, that too will make great compost for the garden.

Time also to clean out the flower gardens that were such a big waste this year. Since they were planted it has either been to wet, to hot and dry or back to being drowned. There was some beauty, but not as in normal summers.

Field crops in this area have suffered. Many that were planted late have not done well, some that were planted early were drowned as seed or were washed out leaving fields sparse.

What finally did get planted and what grew, were then hit with to much heat and dry weather. I think I said it before here, but I really don't think anyone around here will lose anything, yet they will not make much, if any profit.

It's just been one of those years that things didn't go well.

Even the apple trees here shed their apples when it got so dry. My grapes did the same. Only thing that did do well were the weeds. Really! I do have to find a way to make them taste good...

Trees we cut last fall for fire wood and to thin the woodlots and left lay to dry, are rotted kind of bad. But we still are cutting them up for firewood. We'll just have to cut and stack more to get through the winter.

That wood will still burn but will take twice as much to make the heat we usually get and the fire will have to be tended twice as often. It's more a matter of adding good with the bad. Kinda just like life...

There are pumpkin festivals and fall foliage festivals going on around here this weekend. But I believe I will be to busy to attend any of them.

There are probably some of the same taking place where you live. Why not attend them this weekend.

Or maybe just a walk through the woods. The wonderful, colorful autumn displays of the trees makes that feel like walking through a wonderland.

Watching for squirrels who are trying to store up food for winter. Seeing bunnies that are filling their bellies on what they can find in preparation for winter.

There is just so much to do during the fall. Just open your eyes and mind and enjoy this big playground we call earth. Soon the winter and it's snow and cold will be here. If your anything like me you'll be sitting somewhere warm watching the snow. Might as well get out and have some fun now...

Well at any rate have a great weekend and spread some smiles!!!

How about joining the site while your here? Tell your friends about the blog!

Comment, complain, ask a question or just say hi!

This world is really one big playground and we can share and get to know one another. By learning we stand a chance to accept differences and understand. 

Walls

Fall is here. It made it's entrance with rain and cold. I get that old spring fever, yet when fall arrives I seem to get fall fever. Might be because the work and busy days of summer are winding down and in my mind I know winter is coming.

All I have today is something that kind of fell out of my mind a few days ago.

I'm adding it here so others that are alone will maybe not feel so alone.

Hope you enjoy it.

Been so long that I've been alone

Children are raised now I'm on my own

I see hope and wonder through grand childrens eyes

Teach them things that I've found wise

Yet a sadness fills my very soul

The walls that were built are beyond control

I fight not to teach them of pain I've learned

It's a trap that's something of my own

Each boulder was placed one at a time

With each pain I've endured along the line

The outer armor to protect the stone

Over the years it's thickness has grown

My walls have a roof, even sun can't shine

To feed flowers of hope over time

Even the rain can't fall from above

To water parched seeds of love

When I hear a soft voice call

My heart seems to tremble within these walls

I curl up in a great big ball

As I hide behind my well crafted walls

Memories of feelings call from the past

Making me want a love that will last

Giving me urges to once again share

Making me long for someone who will care

What would I offer to someone who would be so bold

To chisel at a crack in my walls so cold

A soul that's old and nearing an end

A body filled with pain that sometimes won't bend

A person who's content to talk with some cows

Or chat with the chickens once in a while

Someone who can take a walk in the woods

Who thinks that only nature is good

A fool that can spend an entire day

Watching waves on a shore or the quiet of a bay

Who thinks the best music comes from the trees

As they whistle and hum with the breeze

Someone who would rather watch wild rabbits at play

Than see a show that's produced on broadway

Who hears a concert when coyotes howl

Who sees the majesty even in gray clouds

One not content when out in a crowd

With all of the shouting being so loud

One who when shopping shakes his head

While hearing and seeing lives he would dread

Others come into my world to play

But they feel it's boring at the end of the day

If with them I should share my heart

It only brings pain when we later part

Walls were put up to protect from that pain

Maybe I'll never find that love again

So at times my eyes become full of tears

As I recall good memories from over the years

Somehow I'm sure that out in this world

There is one who sees life in the warm and the cold

There lives someone who could be for me

Who sees all the beauty in the things I see

But I suspect she too has her walls

Erected from pain and all of lifes falls

Put up so carefully built up so tall

Yet we'll never meet, those walls won't fall.

How about joining the blog and sharing with anyone you know. Help show the world we're all the same and can learn from each other and accept any difference of politics and beliefs.

Check Up

How come when you need help there is no one around, yet when you don't there are many who offer?

Why is it when you accept and offer of help people act upset...

How come when you have little or nothing to do there is no one around to talk to, but when you are busy someone will want to talk for hours?

Why does the phone never ring until you are busy?

We've had our first really cold snap here in the Pennsylvania mountains. It's a warning to check the windows and doors for the little places the cold air will sneak through and the heat will sneak out.

Best way I know to get a good look at the glazing around all the little window panes is to wash the windows. When you find bad spots of glazing, dig them out with a putty knife and put new glazing in. Then you can finish cleaning those windows in preparation to watch the falling flakes of snow.

If you're not good on ladders get or hire someone to do it for you.

The price you pay will be cheaper than the price of a doctor because of broken bones...

Don't forget to look up. Look at the roof. Are all the shingles looking good? How's the mortar joints between the bricks of the chimney look? If you have any questions about them call a pro and get them to check.

You have had your furnace checked and cleaned this summer right???

If not get a technician to check it now. Don't wait until the winter is on you, the snow is falling and there is ice on the roads for your furnace to quit. Many others do that and the furnace guy is busy. You will pay extra for an emergency call.

While your looking up, you see the gutters. Clean them out or again get someone to. Gutters love to collect leaves, pine needles and dirt. At times birds think the gutters are a wonderful place for a nest.

If they're not cleaned out the water will collect and run over. It will freeze and monster size ice will form and the weight may bring your gutters to the ground. That is when it gets really expensive and you'll will wish you had cleaned them earlier.

That first blast of cold days is a bummer, but instead of looking at it as something bad, look at it as an alarm. Wake up now and check all the little things you keep putting off.

Find those little things now before winter makes them into big things. Fix them now before they become big expenses.

While your out looking anyway, look at the beautiful colors that mother nature has painted the trees and smile.

How about joining the blog and sharing with anyone you know. Help show the world we're all the same and can learn from each other and accept any difference of politics and beliefs.

Forgot Again

Just a thought that crossed my mind.

Want your kids to be quiet? Turn off the TV and stop anything else your doing. Pay attention to them instead of trying to hear the news with one ear. It's simply amazing that when you pay attention to your kids, they have nothing to say...

Woke up Sunday to see huge fluffy snow flurries falling with the rain. It was cold! Snow here in October is nothing new, but it usually waits until the end of October.

I got finished with the morning routines and was playing around on the web. An idea crossed my mind.

If there were flurries here, there might be a little snow cover at a Ski resort not far away. There are three within about 45 minutes of home.

So I decided that one that is about the highest would be a good place to go. Thought I'd get to see and early preview of winter wonderland and maybe get a few photo's for the blog.

Woke my son who had been out the night before and had drank a bit much and was still fast asleep. Hehehehehe, he was nursing a hangover!!!

As we were getting ready to go he received a phone call. Someones furnace had quit. So off he went on an emergency call.

When he returned home after getting heat for someone we got ready and left.

It was raining and drizzling all the way, but the scenery was absolutely beautiful. The trees are displaying all their brilliant colors of fall against the background of lush green still on the ground.

The boy was driving and I did have to tell him we were not going to a fire and no ones life was depending on us getting there fast. Slow the heck down and enjoy the scenery! But as young people are, he couldn't see the scenery for the fuzzy junk in his head...

But yet they can see those tiny little letters that make up their text messages on their phones... Go figure.

Then to make matters worse, dumb butt that I never realized I was raising to be a billboard, got another tattoo. The reeking odor of the gunk he slathers on that so it will heal properly was making me nauseous!

While my mind is on the scenery and looking for deer and other wild animals, his was on fast cars and trucks. His conversation made me think more that I should maybe try and find a sweet lady to enjoy long rides with...

Yet I survived the ride and conversation and we finally arrived at our destination. Walked through the entrance and to one of the lounge areas that serve drinks and food. I selected a great table that had a view of the slopes through a entire wall of glass.

Not one trace of snow. Not even a flurry. Oh well, there was at least a football game on the TV and they have plenty of them hanging from the walls.

We ordered a picture of beer and some food.

As I was drinking my beer and looking out the window wall it dawned on me just how nice those slopes looked even without any snow. I wondered to the window and then it hit me. My camera was MIA! I left it sitting on a stand by the door...

So sorry, no pictures... But I did have a delicious hot dinner, icy cold beer and another beautiful memory. And the three young ladies sitting at a table by the window wall looked real nice too... The football game? Ehh, I don't really enjoy watching them anyway. Always did think they were made to play, not watch.

So what did you do or see this past weekend? Did you remember your camera? Seriously, I should find a way to attach mine to my head...

Maybe I should consider finding a nice lady to help me remember...

Yah right... Like someone would like a free spirit like me.

So hey, how about clicking on that Join button and showing us your smiling face. We're all family here in this world. We all have similar problems and lives. We all put up with idiotic decisions made by our governments. But we all need each other to make a better world possible...

Already! Are You Kidding Me?

Can Christmas come to early? I believe it can.

Went to do some weekly shopping on Saturday. While in some stores I noticed some Christmas things on the shelves.

It's not Halloween yet, but there are many Christmas items out. We still have Thanksgiving to shop for and prepare for and yet the Christmas stuff is here.

We have two months to go before Christmas is on us and the black Friday sales and other pre-Christmas sales...

I've noticed this trend for quite a few years now and I just don't get it!

By the time Christmas finally gets here, I'm bored with it. I've spoken to many others that feel exactly the same.

But do the stores and corporate world care? Heck no, someone will be in a hurry to buy their products and pay their ridiculous prices.

Is it just me or does anyone else save Christmas decorations? Heck, I gave many of what I'd bought away to family and friends and a few charities. I inherited some very old Shiny Bright ornaments that were once owned by my grandparents.

Those ornaments are beautiful and have some very good memories and meaning. They also allow me to reflect on the days of the past and help me to remember things to share with my children and grandchildren. It also reminds me of all the people who became friends over the years and reminds me of things to share with new friends and acquaintances who stop around.

I even have cards saved from people who have passed. They are proudly displayed each year at Christmas and it gives me the feeling those people are still with me as I see the cards and remember them fondly.

So each year those things get taken from their storage, unwrapped carefully and used. Then after they are carefully wrapped and put away until the next year.

Heck I don't even purchase many gifts until a few days before Christmas. That's when the prices really begin to get reasonable. The stores begin their panic to sell them so they drop their prices.

Things and stuff that gets used up and tossed after Christmas I purchase after Christmas when the stores are almost giving them away. Like tinsel and cards for the next year. They get stored with the decorations and are not hard to keep either.

I have three nice plastic storage containers that are not hard to handle that I keep those things in from year to year. Nothing hard about it at all...

I do at times buy things for people for Christmas long before Christmas arrives. If I'm out and see something that reminds me of someone and I'm pretty sure they will like it, I buy it and put it away for Christmas gifts. Did that this year with something I know my daughter will love. I can't tell you here though what that was. She will surely read the blog if I do...

But for me, I say boycott the Christmas stuff in the stores until after Thanksgiving! It worked that way when I was young and I am certain it will work just as well today.

Well, except the candy. That is good no mater if it's Christmas or not!

Have a great day and thank you for listening to my rant.

And remember, smile and share that smile!!!

Now before you go, how about clicking on that Join button and showing us your smiling face. We're all family here in this world. We all have similar problems and lives. We all put up with idiotic decisions made by our governments. But we all need each other to make a better world possible...